OpenAI in talks to raise fresh funds from Saudi Arabia's PIF, India's Reliance Industries: The Information
OpenAI has held discussions with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF),
Reliance Industries
, and UAE's MGX to participate in its ongoing $40 billion fundraising, US tech publication The Information reported.
The talks are part of the second instalment of the fundraise, where OpenAI is looking to raise about $30 billion by December, potentially valuing the company at around $260 billion before the new investment, the report said.
Japan's SoftBank, which is leading the round, has already been actively buying shares from employees. Between March and May, it purchased around $240 million worth of shares from a small group of current and former staffers, the report said. Last year, ahead of its mega round, SoftBank had also acquired about $2 billion worth of new and existing shares.
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SoftBank is expected to contribute at least three-fourths of the $30 billion instalment, leaving about $7.5 billion to be raised from new investors, according to the report. The Japanese conglomerate may take loans or sell some of its public market holdings, including its shares in Arm Holdings, to fund the investment, the report added.
OpenAI has also discussed raising at least $100 million each from Coatue Management and Founders Fund as part of the ongoing fundraise, the report said, while talks with PIF and other prospective investors are still at an early stage.
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A direct investment by Saudi Arabia's PIF, which manages over $900 billion in assets, would mark a shift from its earlier exposure to US tech firms through venture funds like Andreessen Horowitz and Iconiq Capital, The Information noted.
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CEO Sam Altman had earlier met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Riyadh, which coincided with the kingdom's latest AI investment push, the report said.
Separately in India, OpenAI is exploring a product and sales partnership with Reliance, whose portfolio includes Jio, India's largest wireless carrier, and the world's biggest oil refinery. OpenAI wants Reliance businesses to distribute or sell its AI offerings in India, which is now its second-largest user market, Altman said in February, the report said.
The scale of its capital needs is also rising sharply as
ChatGPT
's weekly active users exceed 500 million, up from 300 million in December. Between 2025 and 2027, OpenAI expects to spend about $35 billion on servers to support existing products, and another $55 billion on developing new models, the report added.
Completion of the round hinges on a pending corporate restructuring of its for-profit entity. While an earlier plan to convert it into a public benefit corporation was dropped, a revised restructuring still needs to be finalised by year-end. Failure to do so could see SoftBank cut its commitment and scale back the round to $20 billion, the report said.
Separately, OpenAI, SoftBank, MGX and
Oracle
have partnered on Stargate, a $500 billion initiative to build global AI data centres, according to The Information.
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